Through the super powers of the outdoors, the U.S. House reached a bipartisan moment for the ages on July 22 and passed the Great American Outdoors Act 310-107. In June, the Senate passed the GAOA 73-25. President Donald Trump is expected to sign it.
“It goes to show that conservation is not a partisan issue, and even when there is a divide over many issues, we can come together for conservation,” emailed Jeff Ravenscraft, central Illinois regional director for the National Wild Turkey Federation. “This is the greatest legislation that has passed for conservation in decades. It is now incumbent upon sportsmen to hold the agencies accountable to spend the money in a timely and beneficial manner.”
For a moment like this, you probably have to go back to President Franklin Roosevelt signing the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act (Duck Stamp Act) in 1934.
The GAOA, a combination of two bills, gives full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund at $900 million annually (for government agencies) and will put $9.5 billion over the next five years toward the deferred maintenance backlog on public lands.
While $9.5 billion is not chump change, there is a huge backlog for maintenance. Ravenscraft emailed that the Shawnee National Forest alone has a $15 million backlog.
As to the first part of the GAOA, the LWCF rarely functioned as created in 1964 by Congress. The intent was for $900 million annually from offshore oil and gas royalties to be used for conservation projects. Instead, over the years, $20 billion was diverted from the LWCF.
“The best part of the Great American Outdoors Act is the permanently protected funding mechanism of $900 million per year,” emailed Jared Wiklund, public relations manager for Pheasants Forever. “In the [LWCF’s] 55 years of existence, allocations have only reached that mark on two separate occasions – a major shortfall for conservation in America that has now been addressed.”
LWCF grants can go for a wide variety of projects at the local level.
“Funding from GAOA, specifically as it relates to the LWCF, benefits communities broadly,” Wiklund emailed. “Public pools, parks, fishing access sites and new public lands in general. The funds can be used a lot of ways to best suit local communities, and now, they are protected FOREVER.”
In the Chicago area, LWCF monies have gone for things as varied as shoreline stabilization at Illinois Beach State Park, acquisitions for the Wolf Road Prairie and Kankakee River SP, and multitudes of local park projects. Urban green spaces should benefit from actually funding LWCF.
“The outcome is a net gain in public lands conserved in perpetuity,” Wiklund emailed.
SPRINGFIELD
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is considering what and how (or if) to do with daily draws for dove and waterfowl hunting during the pandemic.
CHICAGO LAUNCHES
To quash a rumor, Chicago launches are not shut on weekends, other than 31st Street. The Burnham launch was ordered closed on Saturday by the city as a safety precaution, as was other parking around the Museum Campus. In general, the Diversey, Burnham, Jackson Park and Calumet Park launches are open as usual; while 31st is closed weekends with limited parking and hours Monday through Friday.
STRAY CAST
Before baseball stops for 2020, I hope a couple kids sneak in and hide behind cutouts at Sox Park; just as I hope kids learn during the pandemic to fish quasi-legal ponds in industrial parks.
